Thursday, February 28, 2008

Missed opportunities may haunt Canucks



They’re not very jolly, because there is no Olli!
Some are despairing, after losing out on Marian.
And with not enough to offer for Brad,
Vancouver fans were left more than a little sad.

The lack of action by the Canucks as the trade deadline arrived on Tuesday has the loyal Canuck fans a little concerned over the playoff aspirations of their favourite team.

While the Western Division seemed to retool for the playoff run, the Canucks put down their trading tools and decided that no renovations were really required. With the exception of an exchange of Matts, the Canucks seem to have decided that the foundation of Roberto Luongo was strong, and that the current design to the Canuck blue print is more than enough to make a run come the spring.

That is of course, providing they can battle their way into the playoffs, a challenge that may be a little harder now that Colorado, San Jose and Dallas have strengthened their line ups and primed themselves for run on the playoff spots.

The Canucks reportedly had tried to land either Richards or Jokinnen, but with both teams looking for a goaltender the Canucks found themselves on the outside looking in as Richards moved on to Dallas and Jokinnen just sat around Miami ready to resume his duties with the Panthers.

The one deal that Dave Nonis did negotiate was more of a housekeeping measure, reducing some cap space and eliminating a player in Matt Cooke who probably wasn’t coming back after this season anyways. While Matt Pettinger is no doubt glad to be back in his BC home, and will provide some grit and youth to the line up, he’s about 43 goals short of the caliber of player that the fans of the Canucks had begun to believe that they needed.

The Canucks for the most part will head into the stretch drive and a hopeful playoff appearance with much the same line up that they went into the playoffs last year with.

Counting on Roberto Luongo to do his part is probably a safe bet for Nonis, but he certainly could have made the task a little easier had he been able to bring in that extra scoring threat that Vancouver always seems to be short of.

Nonis said that he likes the make up of his team and felt confident in them as the playoffs beckon, time will be short before the fan base will be able to say if they share in that confidence.
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Vancouver Province--Are the Canucks cooked?
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